34 Best National Parks With the Most Photoworthy Scenery

Our national parks have been called "America's best idea," and you won't find any argument here. The very first park was Yellowstone, created in 1892, and since then, dozens more of these majestic lands of mountains, meadows, rivers, and red rocks, have joined the protected-forever party. You know the big three: Yosemite, Grand Canyon, and Yellowstone, but here are a few more natural stunners to add to your list.

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Yosemite National Park — California

Best Overall

Located in California's Sierra Nevada mountains, Yosemite has something for everyone. There are hikes for all levels and numerous waterfalls — each more scenic than the next. Bridalveil Falls is reached via an easygoing trail, while the trail to Yosemite Falls is more challenging, but you'll be rewarded with a view of the famous Half Dome rock formation in the distance.

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Saguaro National Park — Arizona

Best for Seeing Cacti

Saguaro National Park, in southern Arizona's Sonoran desert, is named for the saguaro, the largest cactus in the U.S.

While hiking beside these beauties, which can reach up to 40 feet high, keep an eye out for wildlife like roadrunners, Gila monsters, and horned lizards. You can also see ancient petroglyphs by following the Signal Hill Trail.

Haleakala, the world's largest dormant volcano, is definitely a highlight of any visit to the Hawaiian island of Maui — especially experiencing sunrise on the summit. Can't wake up that early? Haleakala National Park is also known for its stellar stargazing. Hiking, biking, horseback riding, zip lining, and paragliding are also available.

The park offers year-round adventures, from snowshoeing in winter to hiking amid wildflower-studded fields in summer — and you're never too far from stunning panoramas of Mount Rainier, which is still an active volcano.

Located on Mount Desert Island, a postcard-perfect island where Rockefellers and Astors summered, Acadia National Park is rich with rocky shorelines and features one of Maine's most historic lighthouses. Hike to the top of 1,530-foot Cadillac Mountain to catch the sunrise, then back in Bar Harbor, treat yourself to a lobster roll at Stewman's.

When you think of Yellowstone National Park, geysers come to mind — and more specifically, Old Faithful, which does indeed live up to its name by erupting every 90 minutes or so. Another superstar of America's oldest national park is the Grand Prismatic Spring, which is the park's largest single hot spring.

Shenandoah's famed 105-mile Skyline Drive is one of the prettiest drives in the Northeast. This National Scenic Byway runs along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and it features sweeping panoramas of rocky peaks and the fertile Shenandoah Valley. (Springtime, when the wildflowers are in bloom, is one of the best seasons to visit.)

The snow-capped Teton Mountain Range is nothing short of majestic. During winter, the park is a snowy wonderland for cross-country skiers and snowshoers. In the warmer months, hike through wildflower-filled meadows, pretend to be a cowboy (or cowgirl) on a horseback-riding excursion, and try your hand at fly-fishing along the Snake River.

Located in the northwest corner of Washington, Olympic National Park has 60 miles of wilderness coastline — the longest undeveloped coast in the contiguous United States. One of the most scenic and Insta-worthy beaches (especially at sunset) is Kalaloch Beach, where you might spot bald eagles, western gulls, and puffins.

Off the coast of Key West is Dry Tortugas National Park, an uninhabited island that's home to 19th-century Fort Jefferson, plus miles of unspoiled beaches (it's only accessible by boat or water plane). Wear your bathing suit, because this park has thousands of acres of coral reef, making it a prime snorkeling spot — keep an eye out for parrotfish, butterflyfish, moray eels, and nurse sharks.

This popular national park, in Utah's southwest corner, is known for its towering red rocks, some of which reach 2,000 feet. You can hike or bike alongside them, but one of the best ways to view these beautiful monoliths is to take a shuttle ride (you board at the visitor center), along the 6-mile Zion Canyon Scenic Drive — be sure to have your camera ready!

The top sights of this northern Montana park (which extends into Canada) are Cracker Lake, with its ice-pop blue waters, and the rectangular-shaped Chief Mountain, but Glacier is also known for its abundance of wildlife. There's a sizable grizzly bear population, and elk, bighorn sheep, and mountain goats have also been spotted.

While you might associate America's national parks with snowcapped mountains and otherworldly rock formations, Biscayne National Park, about an hour from Miami, offers underwater treasures. Sign up for a snorkeling tour, where you might spot colorful parrot fish, trumpet fish, corals, sea fans, and maybe even a moray eel.

You'll feel like a kid in a giant sandbox during a visit to Great Sand Dunes National Park in southern Colorado. The park is home to North America's largest sand dunes — the biggest is 755 feet high! Spend the day climbing up the dunes, then zooming down them on a sled. You can even camp out beside these natural wonders, which, when combined with a star-filled sky, creates an otherworldly scene.

Joshua Tree in Twentynine Palms (3 hours east of LA) isn't just the title of a U2 record; it's a national park with some pretty spectacular natural scenery. Its setting, at the intersection of the Colorado and Mojave deserts, has resulted in unique flora. The Colorado side is rife with creosote bush, while the Mojave side is a habitat for the rare Joshua tree — the only place in America where it grows.

Once submerged under the sea, Badlands National Park, an hour from Rapid City (named on Fodor's 2019 Go list) is known for its abundance of fossils. You can see small fossils, including lizards and rabbits, as well as larger animals, such as rhinos and horses.

As you hike through the arid terrain, you'll have opportunities to spot these ancients skeletons, which is pretty cool! The park also has plenty of live animals, including bison, bighorn sheep, and prairie dogs.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a hiker's paradise, and many of its trails lead to gorgeous waterfalls. Some of the most popular hikes include Trillium Gap Trail, which winds through an old-growth hemlock forest to Grotto Falls and Rainbow Falls Trail, which leads to an 80-foot-high waterfall of the same name. Don't feel like hiking? Get in the car and drive the famed Blue Ridge Parkway.

In Denali National Park, an approximately 6-hour drive from Anchorage, a few of the breathtaking wilderness vistas you'll see include glacial rivers, alpine tundra, and, of course, snowcapped Mount Denali, North America's highest peak. Keep the camera ready for wildlife spotting of moose, caribou, grizzly bears, wolves, and Dall sheep — see all five and you'll have scored what's known as a "Denali Slam."

Visiting Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, home to the active Kilauea volcano (it most recently blew its top last spring and summer), is a can't-miss attraction for anyone visiting the Big Island. To see incredible views of Kilauea's steaming caldera, take the 11-mile Crater Rim Drive, while the 19-mile Chain of Craters Road will take you past expansive lava fields, craters, prehistoric petroglyphs, and, possibly, active lava!

Kids will love pretending they're Batman in the caves of Carlsbad Caverns in southern New Mexico. There are 83 caves in all, but the big draw is the self-guided tour of Carlsbad's massive Big Room — 14 football fields in length. The more adventurous can join a guided tour of Spider Cave or Lower Cave, where you'll find yourself up close and personal with stalactites and stalagmites.

This remote Texan park, along the Rio Grande River, is known for its beautiful desert flora, including plants, wildflowers, and more than 60 species of cacti — the most in the National Park System. Depending on the weather, you may spot blooming ocotillo, giant dagger yuccas, claret cup cactus, Big Bend bluebonnets, and the purplish-red fruit of the prickly pear.

You'll never forget the brilliant blue color of Crater Lake, the centerpiece of Oregon's only national park. Located within the caldera of Mount Mazama, the lake is seven miles long and said to be the country's deepest. There are tons of scenic trails in the park with sweeping lake views, but the only one that descends to the lake itself is the mile-long Cleetwood Trail, which features switchbacks through a fir-tree forest.

You'll find yourself saying "wow, that's big" a bunch of times during a visit to the Sequoia National Park in California's Sierra Nevada, but the biggest exclamation point goes to the General Sherman tree. This skyscraper-sized tree, the largest living thing on the planet (based on volume), is just one of the many ancient sequoias in the Giant Forest grove, which has an extensive network of hiking trails.

Voyageurs National Park, on Minnesota's northern border, is dominated by water — the freshwater kind. There are more than 30 lakes, including Rainy and Kabetogama, spread among 218,054 acres. Naturally, most of the activities have to do with getting wet: swimming, boating, fishing, kayaking, and canoeing (there are hundreds of coves and bays just waiting to be explored). You can even rent a houseboat for the night.

Alaska is famous for glaciers and fjords, and one of the prime spots to see both is Glacier Bay National Park, located within southeastern Alaska's fabled Inside Passage. Take a boat tour to see the park's awe-inspiring scenery of protected coves, tidewater glaciers, cascading waterfalls, deep fjords, and rugged mountains. You may also spot wildlife, such as humpback whales and harbor seals.

Be sure to bring your binoculars to Cuyahoga Valley National Park, just 30 minutes south of Cleveland, because you're going to need them to get up-close views of the park's many birds. In fact, Cuyahoga boasts 250 species, including yellow-throated warblers, great blue herons, wood ducks, and bald eagles. You can spot them via hikes, or better yet, from aboard the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railway.

Congaree National Park, 15 miles southeast of Columbia, is one of the oldest and tallest forests east of the Mississippi. Some of the trees found here include bald cypresses dripping with Spanish moss, water tupelos, and loblolly pines. Explore the park, named for the the Native American tribe that lived here centuries ago, via hikes or a canoe ride along Cedar Creek.